Newbury Wednesday Preview - 29/12/21

Alan King is having a fantastic time of things lately over both codes, and our pick is trained by the dual-purpose maestro, Haseefah was a winner on the flat in France and looks to absolutely love the softer conditions, a typical flat to jumper recruit for the Alan King yard.

They do so well with these former flat horses, especially ones who like the softer conditions, and Haseefah is no different. She was a winner on Hurdle debut at Market Rasen beating a very well fancied favourite by a very impressive 9 and a half lengths.

Considering it was her first run over hurdles she jumped well, and was running on well through the line, so a step up in trip might happen in the future.

She then finished fourth next time out at Lingfield carrying a 7lb penalty on the others, and although she was beaten by over 8 lengths, she was unusually keen that day which might have taken it out of her on the heavy conditions, before running on well coming up to the line.

She kickstarts his handicap career off a mark off 117 which looks lenient enough, and being slightly lower down in the weights today in a race similar to his last with slightly better conditions, a big run is expected.

In a race where most of the runners are having either their first or second run, we have selected one of the more experienced horses in the field. Peking Rose comes into this race having his fourth career run and second start over hurdles.

He was third last time out on debut over obstacles, finishing just under three lengths in a decent looking Novices Hurdle at Ascot, which was a taking performance as he didn’t particularly hold a decent position in the race and was bumped when coming up to the last after edging left, but he did his best to run on after the inconvenience so that was a decent performance for running over obstacles for the first time.

That was a hotter race than this (Race at Ascot was a class 3, This is a class 4) and now stepping down to calmer waters against a few inexperienced horses, this bumper winner could get her career started over hurdles.

The Moore’s are having a fantastic start to the season, winning their first Grade 1 the other day with Porticello in the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow.

This race isn’t quite at those heights, but it could be another winner for the inform tea (Gary Moore’s horses running at a 26% strike rate) Early Du Lemo has been contesting in some pretty warm contests of late and was sitting at a rating of 125 at his peak, he has been dropped a few pounds to 119 now which is 1lb lower than his last winning mark, which came in a class 4 race at Lingfield back in January 2019.

He is back in a class 3 contest in this and with him slightly slipping down the weights on conditions that will suit, we could see him back in the winner’s enclosure.

Another top-class race with the main protagonists at the top of the market being in fine form lately, Masters Legacy has been in top form this season winning his first start of the season, before finishing second to a progressive type last time out by just over a length.

He was always running on coming up to the line but was no match for the winner who is a thorough stayer himself. He has a fair bit of weight off a few of the others in the field who are slightly on recovery missions reverting back over to the smaller obstacles.

Masters Legacy is in fine form just like his trainer and is fancied to go one better and win this time around on his third start of a season.

Expensive purchase who has shown ability over fences in his three runs to date and overall looks to be a much better horse than a mark of 117.

His third at Bangor on seasonal debut should set him up perfectly for this event, with the softer the ground the better for this horse.

The feature race of Newbury’s card on the 29th December is the Grade 1 Challow Novices Hurdle over 2m4f, and the last three winners of the race being Bravemansgame, Thyme Hill and Champ so this race does usually throw up some very nice prospects further down the line who go on to become decent stayers over both codes.

The race this year looks no different and there are a few very nice types in this again, the current favourite Stage Star does look a nice prospect being 2 for 2 over hurdles in his debut season over obstacles winning both races by a combined 13 and a half lengths.

He is yet to contest in any Graded races as yet but is trained by Paul Nicholls who has won this race three times in the past including last year with Bravemansgame and Denman in the past. So, this is a springboard for some top horses coming through the team at Ditchheat.

As previously mentioned, Stage Star is yet to contest in any black type races but couldn’t have won his first two starts over hurdles in better fashion, jumping well and seeming to get better with each run, the potential of this horse could be very high and he is a very exciting novice hurdler for the season ahead.

We expect champion trainer Paul Nicholls to equal the record and win this for a fourth time.

The story of this card is that all the seven races are of a high quality, and the last on the Newbury card here is no exception.

Fern Hill put in a career best performance last time out to finish a close up second to the progressive Come On Teddy to only just be beaten on the line by a neck.

He was sent off the outsider of the field that day but ran a cracking race after jumping superbly and really put his head down to rally on at the end, just getting touched off before the line.

That last run was over 2m4f and the step up to 2m6f in this will more than suit as he looks a nice stayer in the making for these sort of handicap races.

He is 6lb better off than the favourite and the inform Stan Sheppard takes the ride on him today, fresh off his Welsh Grand National a few days ago.